𝗖𝗛𝗘𝗟𝗦𝗘𝗔 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗠𝗔𝗡 | homesteading + holistic wellness + growing

Today I'm talking with Chelsea Chapman.

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00:00
Did you know that Muck Boots all started with a universal problem? Muck? And did you know that it's their 25th anniversary this year?  Neither did I. But I do know that when you buy boots that don't last, it's really frustrating to have to replace them every couple of months.  So check out Muck Boots. The link is in the show notes. The very first thing that got hung in my beautiful kitchen when we moved in here four and a half years ago was a calendars.com  Lang calendar.

00:26
because I need something familiar in my new house. My mom loves them. We love them. Go check them out. The link is in the show notes. You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters and topics adjacent. I'm your host, Mary Lewis.  A Tiny Homestead podcast is sponsored by Homegrown Collective, a free to use farm to table platform, emphasizing local connections with ability to sell online, buy, sell, trade in local garden groups, and help us grow a new food system.

00:56
You can find them at homegrowncollective.org. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Chelsea at It's Chelsea Chapy in Saskatchewan, Canada. Yay. Good morning, Chelsea. How are you? Good morning. I'm doing really well. It's nice and sunny here. Finally.  Oh, well, it's not nice and sunny here in Minnesota. It's kind of gray and it snowed yesterday. We got about an inch of snow on the ground.

01:26
Oh man, well you're doing better.  I guess you're not doing as good as us. Our snow's almost gone. Yeah, ours was. Friday was 80 degrees here and then it got cold and rained on Saturday, thunderstorm Saturday night and then snowed yesterday. I was like, Mother Nature, what are you doing?  That's funny. It always  catches me off guard when it's it's 80 degrees and it's literally like a warm day here for us right now is like minus four. So it sounds so different. Yeah. And it's celsius.

01:56
Yeah, and it's really different for here too. We don't get 80 degree days in March. So it was very weird. I did not love it. All right. So tell me about yourself and what you do, So my husband and I, we raise cattle and we recently just bought our own  quarter section here. Was it six months ago? And so we've moved in into like a little sixties farmhouse that we're currently renovating and we

02:25
Finally, can have our, you're okay. I just have my son here with me.  We're finally  getting our own chickens and doing all the homesteading and things that I've been dreaming about for so long.  And then I also do social media and that's just like such a fun, creative outlet for me. And it kind of started during COVID, I got laid off my job and  I love doing photography and writing and things like that. And so it was just a really cool outlet for me. And then it started to gain traction and

02:54
Here I am  like five years later doing what I do now.  Nice, very nice.  And it's so funny for you to say you've wanted to do for so long because you're not very old. What are you in your late twenties if that?  I'm 25. But yeah, when my husband and got married, we were renting and we've been married almost three years. And so when I got married is when I really started to, my interest and passion in these things started to grow. And because we were renting, we weren't able to do that.

03:23
And so I just spent the last three years really trying to  just learn and learn and learn so that when I am in the position that I am ready to go. So here I am now just waiting for the ground to defrost and everything like that. Yep, exactly.  I'm so excited that you're 25 years old because I usually talk to people in their 30s and up because it usually takes us that long to get to where we can homestead on any kind of land.

03:52
So I love that you're 25, you're young, you're raising a family and you're getting into this and that's amazing. Cause you are the future Chelsea. Yeah, it's when I look around at the world and I just think, man, how are we raising our kids? And I just take it so much more seriously when I look at my son, especially be like, he is the future. And if we are not putting everything into our children, then our future is going to look weak.

04:20
And I really try and show that on my page, the way that we're raising our children spiritually, but also how much more effort we're putting into looking at their health, you know? I do. I have four grown kids  and my daughter was the first and she's 35 now. And she was what changed my perspective on the world too.  having a child can't help but change your perspective. It's just how it happens.

04:51
Oh yeah, I've had such a perspective change. He's going to be  one in a month. And so it's just been so fun seeing myself change and grow from the person that I was into the person that I am now, even in the short 11 months that he's been with us already. Yeah, exactly. It's amazing that it's almost an instantaneous  mindset change,  but then you have to learn all the things to go with that mindset change.

05:20
Oh yes, yeah, it's been a  big learning curve for sure.  Okay, so you said you have cattle. Do you have beef cattle or dairy cattle or what? We raise beef cattle, black angus, so that's kind of our niche.  I grew up on a farm just raising commercial cattle and then my husband, him and his family raised purebred  black angus and then they also sell like breeding bulls as well and we kind of

05:48
got our feet into the water of that now and we've sold a few of our own purebred bulls as well. Nice. Is it sad for you when you have to sell them off or is it okay? We don't really  create much of an attachment with the cattle because they're mostly out in the field. don't know, growing up on a farm, it's  such a feeling I can't describe of  knowing that we love our animals so much and we take such good care of them but also knowing

06:17
that they feed so many people  and it's just a beautiful circle of life really. Yeah,  it really is and  I  am a really soft heart Chelsea, I'm not gonna lie.  When we put all our chickens down last fall because they were getting old and lazy,  our egg laying hens.  Oh yes.  I had a pang. I had that little thing in my heart of this is  terrible, I hate this.

06:43
But every animal that you have on a homestead or a farm has a purpose. And when they've outlived that purpose, that's the end for them. Exactly. And I definitely, we have a dog and we have a few horses.  And I definitely do have a soft spot for them because they are my pets.  And I know when I get  my chickens here in two weeks, so we've been working hard to set up our chicken coop, I think I'm definitely going to have an attachment to my laying hens for sure.

07:12
Yeah, speaking of that, are eggs really expensive in Canada because they're ungodly expensive in Minnesota at the grocery store? Yeah, I think to get like an 18 pack in the grocery store is around $7, which for us is like that's pretty expensive. But I actually have a friend who has eggs, so I've just been getting from her until I...

07:38
I'm able to get my own and I think I pay her $6 for like an 18 pack. So it's worth it to me. Yeah, absolutely.  I'm not, I am not going to tell you you're wrong. Eggs  from somebody else's chickens or your own chickens that live in a coop, you know, and they get outside and they get to eat bugs and seeds and fresh air. Yeah. Way better than grocery store eggs. had to buy. You can really tell.

08:07
Like I can tell the difference between farm raised or store bought eggs. The yolks are just so much more rich colored and they just are so much better tasting. Like they taste way better. hmm. Yep. I didn't think it was just an America thing. I figured it was a world thing, but I wanted to check and see what was going on in your neck of the woods too. Yep. Okay.  What else?  Do you grow a garden at all?  I do. So last year,

08:36
Like I mentioned before, our renting situation, I was unable to have one at our house, but between my parents and my in-laws, I was able to grow a garden. And at my parents' house, I grew lots of things. I grew a ton of cucumbers, like  massive rows of corn and a lot of potatoes, which my  family and I, we kind of shared the responsibility between watering and weeding and things like that.

09:01
I was able to make a ton of salsa, a ton of  spaghetti sauce, canned a bunch of carrots and pickles. I made about 30 jars of carrots and pickles. And then I was able to freeze a bunch of corn so that we can have corn throughout the wintertime and things like that. And I froze a bunch of beets, so  I really love trying to get in the garden and harvest a bunch and fill our freezers.

09:30
our canning room with goods for the winter time. Isn't it fun?  It is fun. I love it. Okay. I had to, I'm not going to lie to you. had to look up Saskatchewan to remember where it is because  my geography stuff in school was not real in depth for any country except for America. Go figure.

09:53
So I looked it up and I was like Saskatoon is coming to mind and I looked up Saskatoon and found service berries. Do you have service berries around US?  Are you meaning  like Saskatoon berries or the service berries? Yeah, we have Saskatoon berries. There's a few local places that I actually went and picked last year as well. That's another thing that I went and did and I was able to make Saskatoon jam and I made some Saskatoon juice and then I froze some so that we can have some Saskatoon pies as well.

10:22
Yes, there is lots and just about 30 minutes north of where my husband and live, there's  up in the hills, there's wild Saskatoons too. Okay, when I read up on the Saskatoon berries or service berries as they're also called,  it said that they have like an almond flavor. Is that right?  I really want to describe them is that  it's almost like eating a blueberry, except they're not as tart.

10:51
they're more sweet. Okay. And the wild Saskatoon berries are a lot smaller. They're almost like a, I can't remember if it's like a juniper berry or something like that. They're a lot smaller, but the tame Saskatoon berries, like if you were to go to a farm, they're a lot bigger. They look pretty much exactly like a blueberry, but they're a lot sweeter tasting. Some of them have a bit of a tartness, but they,  they remind me more of a blueberry. Okay. All right. Cool.

11:18
Yeah, I was reading about it and I'm like, no one has ever told me that a Saskatoon berry has an almond flavor to it. you're wrong. I would never describe it. I would never describe them as that. Yeah, Google was wrong. Yep. First time ever. Hmm, weird. Yeah. Okay. So how long is your growing season there? Because ours is basically here in LaSore, Minnesota, where I live.

11:46
It's May, we plant in the garden in May 15th and everything's pretty much done by first of October. So what's your growing season? So we can,  Saskatchewan, we can get some late frosts. And so usually I don't get things in the garden until like  May 27th at best, you know, or even the first week of June. And then typically depending on when the first frost  hit.

12:16
It can go into that first week, second week of October as well. Okay. So, so we have maybe another week and a half compared to you. Yeah. Yeah. You're actually not too much different than us. Yep. And we're actually Southern Minnesota.  Um, I'm guessing if we lived in Northern Minnesota, our growing season would be shorter.  So how far south are you?  Um,  Iowa is maybe an hour and a half south of us.  Okay. Okay.

12:46
So we're not far from the Iowa border. And  we're about four and a half hours from the South Dakota border.  And we're about an hour and a half from the Wisconsin border.  we're kind of, we're not central. We're like West central Minnesota. Yeah. Yeah. We actually live really close to the U S border as well. Like we are about an hour.

13:15
straight south of us and you would  be going to Minot. Yep.  Okay, cool.  So I don't,  I'm really walking up to a line here.  I  don't talk politics on my podcast. I try really hard not to.  Yep. But  you're in Canada, I'm in America.

13:40
How are things doing in Canada regarding the American government right now? Just be careful of what you say.  Yes, I will.  Well, as you  may or may not know, Canada is actually gearing up for an election in about 30 days, the shortest time for an election to be held ever due to our previous Prime Minister Justin Trudeau  not handling things well. So between that and then the tariff wars going on,

14:10
Um, I don't know, it's been a little bit disappointing as a Canadian.  Um, just say, don't say this if I can't say this, but it's been a little bit disappointing as a Canadian just because  so many of us were rooting for Trump to get in. We've seen kind of what you guys have been going through with the Biden administration. And then  to see Trump get in and just turn his back so,  so quickly on a neighboring nation that, you know, we have been.

14:39
friends since the beginning. And so it has been a little bit of feel like a stab in the back. And I know that maybe lots of the American people don't feel that way, but Trump does represent you guys. And so that's kind of how it's felt for us.  we're really hoping  and praying that  Pierre, the conservative leader that he can get in. And so in a month, we'll really be able to see it. Maybe we might be doing a little bit better, a little bit worse.

15:07
Uh huh. I feel like we're all in a holding pattern right now. And I don't know about you, Chelsea, but I do not like holding patterns.  No. Oh no. Me neither. I hate that waiting area. You know, like I just, I struggle there. Yeah.  Yep. And the other thing that's been really hard here in America is the, a lot of the federal grants were stopped.

15:31
And a lot of people in agriculture rely on those grants every year at this time.  So yeah, it's been, I'm going to be really careful because I don't want to say things that I'm not educated on, but it's been chaos here.  not like in my little part of the world here, my home, my land, everything's okay. But

15:58
When I look at all the things that are affecting so many people in my country, it's really hard to not be, I don't know, sick at heart a little bit over it.  Oh, I feel you. it  kind of seems like just being so secluded out in the country, you're kind of secluded from it all. But it seems to be touching the small towns and just encroaching more and more to affecting our day-to-day life. Yeah. And  I don't know, it just seems like our

16:27
current government, are so against like farming and the oil industry and things like that. And it just feels like every day you're waking up and you're trying to swim against the stream every single day. Yep. Is kind of how I describe it. Yeah. And, and I don't know what Canadian government is like, but here in the States, if you have a problem with the way things are going,

16:53
our representatives and senators and all those people who are part of the bigger government, it's not just the president, the government part is who gets things done.  We can contact those people and say,  this is what I think about this particular thing that's going on, but you kind of have to tell them  what and why you think that way.  Not just the emotional part, but the actual how it's affecting you.  Yes, the actual reasoning.

17:23
Yeah, in Canada, is that a thing that you guys can do? Yes.  Yeah, we do have representatives and then they take it to the next and then the next. And like, in each state, you guys have a governor, right? Yeah. Yeah. So here we have a premier. And so that's who we would, we would take our problems to him and then he would take them to more of a national level if need be. Okay, good. So you have a way to get your opinions and thoughts  to the powers that be, as I call them.

17:52
That's correct. Good, because government in America is supposed to be for the people and by the people, and I'm assuming Canada is not that different. No,  it's really not that different. And I always like to say the government works for the people. We don't work for the government. And I feel like we have really lost touch with that saying, because that's way it should be. Yeah, it should be here in America, too. And I think

18:20
I think that's all I really want to get into because I really, I don't want to make people angry. I want people to feel empowered. And that's why I said what I said about if you have a problem, these people are here to help you get that out there and dealt with. So anyway, that's the closest I've ever come to talking politics on the podcast with you, Chelsea.

18:46
I'm literally sitting here buzzing like do I really want to talk about this? Have you ever had a Canadian on the podcast before? Yes, actually. There was a young woman. Her name was Becca Bia. She changed her last name to Hammond and she has many horses. I invited her to be on the show. Yeah, I don't know. I don't remember what province she's from.

19:15
But she was great, she was adorable and she's so, so bubbly and is just mad about these mini horses. It was a really fun episode, it's already out. It's so funny. Yeah. That is so funny. So, and she just actually bought a mini horse from another person I follow on Facebook. And I didn't even know she was buying the mini horse from the first person that I follow on Facebook. I messaged her, I said, are you buying Katie's George? She was like, I am. I went, oh my God, it is such a small world.

19:44
That's hilarious. Yeah. So, but we didn't get into politics, although she did mention that she wanted to get down to America to pick up George before April 2nd, before the tariffs hit. I don't think. right. Yeah. And something about she had to have a  broker because she was bringing another horse to America to drop off because she had an empty trailer. Why not?

20:12
and she had to have the right paperwork to bring the mini horse back with her, George.  So yeah, there are definitely rules and regs to travel across the border right now and always have been, but there's just specific things when it comes to  livestock. Oh yeah, there's a lot of paperwork that goes into  transporting livestock to different countries.  Now, I am assuming that with your beef cattle, you are not...

20:40
exporting that beef it's staying in Canada? Well,  we're not exporting it but I know that  once the beef is bought like by one of the bigger buyers then they often will export it.  Yeah. All right. Well, I'm going to throw this in in the middle of this because I've been trying to get it in on every episode for like the last three weeks. Whether you're in Canada or America,

21:07
You really should know your local growers, your local producers,  and you should have a relationship with them because sometimes  things happen and supply chains go down. So get to know people like Chelsea and me who has eggs for sale right now at $5 a dozen.  just, you know, support your local people who are producing food because it's really good to eat local.  Amen.

21:34
I could not have said that any better. really, people think they go into the grocery store and they think that  one stop shop, that's where their food comes from, but they do not see all the other hands and all the other processes that are involved. you know, if, if things go bad at some point on the world stage, getting food at the grocery stores is going to be everyone's last problem, except the people that are walking into the grocery store needing food for their family.

22:03
And so even if you live in town, like there's so many things that you can grow. And there are so many people that live outside of town, like myself, that plan on growing a very massive garden that I want to feed other people. That is like a passion of mine is having a garden where you can come and pick for yourself  and,  buy it at an affordable price. Yeah,  absolutely.  Do you have people, you know, who are also doing this kind of thing, or is it, are you kind of in a

22:32
a vacuum right now?  I know  quite a few people that like grow their own gardens but I don't know that I know any that really want to  get that food into other people's hands.  For myself it's just kind of a newer passion as I've just you know started to grow up and look at things and I love love love gardening and I really want to share that passion with others and share good wholesome organic food with others.

23:00
Well, you would love my kitchen right now, Chelsea.  have baby basil  plants on my kitchen table.  think there's still some pepper seedlings. think there's still some tomato seedlings.  And out in our greenhouse right now, it is packed. My husband came in yesterday from  planting lettuce seeds  and he says,  we have a problem. And I said, oh, and he said, I'm running out of room in the greenhouse. I said, uh-oh.

23:28
And he said, yeah, he said, it's going to be good when we can get the high tunnel plastic on the high tunnel greenhouse,  get the tables set up and start selling the bedding plants. So I have room to grow more things. And I was like, it's a never ending cycle, isn't it? He's like, yeah. No kidding. That is so funny. Yeah. I'm waiting for a nice warm day here so I can get out and start some of my tomatoes and basil and peppers and things like that, just to give them a head start.  Yep.

23:57
Because it takes like six to eight weeks for the tomatoes to be ready to go in the ground. Plus, I'm guessing it's still too cold where you are to even get them in the ground. Oh yeah, it's really cold still. Yeah. So, but he sent me photos from the greenhouse and I'm  not kidding. It is packed. Like,  I can't, I don't even know how he's got a Tetris in there to have everything in there he's got right now. I'm so excited. I can't.

24:25
I can't tell you how thrilled I am that we're going to be selling bedding plants for the first time this year. That is exciting.  Yeah, the last few years we've actually just sold produce. when we got the greenhouse up last May, said,  how do feel about growing extra seedlings? And he was like,  I feel fine about that. For what? And I said,  to sell to people who want to try growing their own backyard garden? And he went, oh, yes, absolutely.

24:56
I love that. I love that your husband loves gardening too. That is so fun. He loves it. It is his therapy. He, it's so funny. He, um, his job is taking care of repairing printers and fax machines and things like that.  Oh, cool. So he's very much  a  tech at his job job. And so  he absolutely loves it when he gets home and it's staying lighter later now.

25:26
So he gets home, he eats dinner and then he's like, I'm out to the greenhouse and here soon it'll be, I'm out to the garden. And  he just putters and plants and checks on things and just like gazes over his creation and just grins. And I'm like, God, you need this.  I love that. Yep. That's how I am. That is, I take my shoes off, I get out there and I just want to absorb everything, you know?  Yeah. You should have seen him last fall when he brought six peaches in.

25:56
from the two peach trees he bought  the previous fall. He came in with six softball sized peaches from these trees he had just put in the year before. That's impressive. And he walked in and showed me and I was like, where did you get peaches? He said from our tree. Probably proud as a peacock, hey?  Oh my God, his face was just lit up like a light bulb. He was so excited.

26:23
And I said, are they buggy? And he said, no, he said, look at these. And they were beautiful and they tasted amazing.  I bet. I don't know what variety they are. I wish I could remember because I wanted to write it down and the tag got thrown away before I could. But I bet you you could grow them in Canada because I think they're a Canadian variety.  Oh, are they? Yeah. Because I really, that's the other thing I want to.

26:47
I want to plant an orchard so my husband and I, we've been, you know, looking at all the different kinds of trees that we want and  discussing like that. And there are some  cold hardy peach varieties that are available. So we're definitely going to have to add those to our orchard.  Yeah. Are you going to do apples too?

27:06
Oh yeah, apples. I like to do plums, apples, cherries, grapes,  then peaches if I can find  a cold hardy variety for sure. Well, I I know the variety that we put in is cold hardy. So I will have to ask him if he remembers what it was and I can message it to you.  Oh, that would be amazing. Yeah.  Unbelievable peaches. I mean, I have had peaches shipped to me from Georgia and these were right up there with Georgia peaches. I'm not kidding.

27:38
that oh man a few years ago my family and I we went to British Columbia and they are known for peaches  and oh my goodness their peaches were amazing I haven't had peaches like that since.  Yeah and it's so funny because you get you get fruit at the store you know the grocery store and it's fruit like  an apple tastes like an apple  but it's not the same as when you go to the orchard and pick an apple off the tree.

28:06
rub it on your shirt and then bite into it. And I don't know  why, why it's so different. You would think that an apple is an apple is an apple, but it's not.  This is really interesting. Um, so all the fruit that we get in our grocery stores, like it has to be picked weeks before it's actually raped. they give it, I cannot remember what it's called, but it's a hormone  and

28:32
You can Google it as soon as we're done. can't remember what it's called though. They give it a ripening hormone right before they're going to like put it into the grocery store. And that's probably why it's not the same is because they're picked so prematurely and then they're given a hormone to ripen quickly to look good, but it's actually not the same.  Yeah. And I mean, I knew, I knew there was a reason. I'm glad you mentioned that, but it's just, it's so funny to me that, that

29:02
Yeah, grocery stores have a purpose.  know, not everyone can get 20 miles away to pick apples at the apple orchard.  it would be so much cooler if people understood that when they eat in season and maybe like gather a couple friends and somebody has a car and they can go pick  apples in season. And I would love to have somebody there take a  video of someone who's never eaten an apple right off the tree.

29:32
biting into that apple. Wouldn't that be amazing?  Oh, it would be. You'd probably be shocked. This is what an apple tastes like. Yeah. And I choose apple because everybody knows what an apple is  in North America. And we all know that an apple tastes like an apple, but there are varying flavors and textures on apples. And there's this one apple that the University of Minnesota  developed.

30:01
and it was called MN 1661 was the original name, because that's how they do it. They name it Minnesota and then a number. And it eventually became the Renaissance apple. And it's a really early apple. It ripens up like at the end of August. And I am in love with this apple. I did not get any this year because we weren't up to get them, but it tastes different than any apple I've ever had.

30:29
It's nuts to me that  all these fruits have different flavors and different textures and different colors, you know? Yeah, it is amazing. So many different variations of the same fruit. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And  as humans, we love variety. We love a different color or a different feel or a different smell.

30:58
I understand that apples  basically give you vitamin C. I think there might be a little vitamin A and it's good for you to eat an apple. But I don't think apples are about eating for nutrition. think apples are  for eating because they make you feel good, like  psychically, not biologically good. Yeah, that's interesting that you say that I can really...

31:27
That describes a lot more how I feel eating an apple now, especially when you eat it like outside. Like there's just something about picking an apple from a tree and eating it. It just makes you feel connected. Yeah. You know, like, it's so that's so interesting. Yeah. And we're so, I mean, so many of us are so disconnected from where our food comes from, which is part of the reason I started the podcast, because I was like, there's a lot of people who don't know that milk comes from cows.

31:57
Yeah,  think brown milk comes from brown cows. Yeah, no chocolate milk does not come from brown cows. Last I checked.  Yeah.  So  anyway, I'm mostly we're just yapping here because we're past 30 minutes, Chelsea. I try to keep us to 30 minutes. So  thank you so much for your time and please keep doing what you're doing and try to pull your friends in to do it too. Okay.  Oh, trust me. I will be trying my hardest.  Good.

32:27
Keep doing the good work. Okay. Thank you so much for inviting me. Thank you. Have a good day. You too. Bye bye. If you like this podcast, you would probably love Amy Fagan's Grounded In Maine podcast.  You can find her on  all the platforms grounded in maine.com.